Thought I'd revitalise this thread with a discussion on what should be the best winter bike for triathletes. My old winter mountain bike is on its last legs and I thought it about time to replace it with something quicker, wear resistant, with good brakes which can also preserve a more aero riding position over the winter.

Seems to me that a disk brake cyclocross bike could be the best choice, but I have a few questions:

- What about drive train ? How about internal hub gears - asny thoughts expereince ?
- Are fluid disk brakes freeze proof ?
- Thin or thick tires for snow ?
- Recommnedations for pigg dekk ?
- Any ideas on a cyclocross disk brake frame that I could build up a bike on with all my garage full of bits ?

Thanks for the feedback so far. Interesting experiences, useful information.

For the record I been using my old mountain bike for cycling to work over the last 5 winters and found that it needs constant attention after say 50-100 km in the winter and a steady stream of replacement parts to keep it on the road. Another guy at work who rides regularly through the winter just buys a new bike each year (cheap MTB) in the sales as its less trouble. The stuff I see giving problems are:

- Rim brakes pads need to be adjusted and replaced very often.
- Rims wear through and I've had a few explode while cycling (scary).
- Cheap piggdekk wear out quckly - the good ones seem to last much much longer (proper carbide pigg tips I assume)
- Chain needs changing once or twice per winter. - - - Drive train needs cleaning , and lubricating and maybe changing once a winter.
- Shifting cables freeze inside the sheaths after water gets in on wet days making shifting difficult/impossible.
- Lights need regular batteriy changing and front lights seem to fail after some months due to water entry (regardless of whether they are cheap or expensive)
- Drive train (casstte) clogs with snow making shifting difficult /impossible.
- Head set needs stripping and opening once a winter to stop the lower bearing corroding and jamming as it catches a lot of salt water.
- Havn't had a bottom braket problem (Use good old shimano UN-68 square pin), however I did manage to wreck the bottom bracker threads in frame when I crashed on the ice last winter. I had to epoxy the BB bearing into the frame, so if/when it goes the bike is finished.

This is the reason why I last year decided to not comute by my bike anymore (supported by the fact that my 29" was stolen ). I experienced something was to fix every week. The downside is of course that my bike shape in the spring was poor, and it took a lot of effort in april to bring it up to level. This winter am I going to run everyday (different routes), and supply whith some quality hours on 'rulle'. Running is a, for me, so much easier and safe way to commute.

Finally bought the Rocky Mountain Solo CXD (see kjell Eriks photo) as it was on sale at syklecomponenter in Sverige for 6900 kr. Arrived last night , looks good, but surprisingly was delivered in a lot of bits (front disk brakes and front fork not assembled. I will even need to cut the fork steerer to length and insert the star nut myself. Thank goodness I'm a mech head and can do it.

Finally got my new bike together and rode it to work today. Needs a little bit more tweaking of shifting and bar height, but other than that it's a good ride, so I'm happy. Handled the snow pretty well and was a good 10% faster than my old mountain bike. Overall though still a bit slow , but thats more to do with the machine powering the bike I think.

Planning to clean out the machine's tubes on Saturday in Os in the spinning hall.

Riding a bike through the winter requires regular maintenance and as Kjell -Eirk says washing off the dirt and grit makes a huge difference in reducing the maintenance needed. I've cycled to work in Norway through the last 10 winters and found that you eat through brake pads on v brakes quickly and need to change them regularly. Wheel rims also wear out quite quickly and a wheel set may only last a season or 2. Worn rims are dangerous and I've had a few explode on me while riding. The rim wall splits off, the tube balloons out and explodes and then the shedded metal rim jams in the brakes and you go over the handlebars ! I changed to disk brakes for this reason (basic shimano cable operated disc brakes) but have found them to be a pain in the ass and need regular adjustment.

The drive train is also problematic. When it wears and gets clogged with dirt shifting gets worse, so once again regular maintence is needed. Also smart is to get a chain wear measuring device and change out the chain as soon as the indicator shows its needed. This way you prolong the life of your cassette and chain rings. I'm toying with the idea of putting SRAM internal hub gears on my winter bike to avoid the above problems, but havn't done so yet as there is compatiblity problems with hub axle length 130mm on road bikes versus 135mm on mountain bikes.

Lights is also another issue. Lots of batteries needed plus light replacement as they break & fill with rain water. I have a bucket full of bike lights at home in various conditions ! I can make recommendations if you want.

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